Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick had no idea until the announcement came over the Staples Center sound system during the second period Thursday night. He didn’t know he played in his 300th game in the NHL, a rather ho-hum 2-0 victory over the Buffalo Sabres.

Quick stopped 19 shots for his first shutout of the season and the 26th of his career. Power-play goals from centers Mike Richards and Anze Kopitar eased his burden and the Kings dispatched the Sabres, the NHL’s last-place team, with relative ease.

“It’s just another game,” Quick said in his customary monotone delivery after facing only token pressure at times from the Sabres, who fell to 3-14-1. “It’s two points. We’ve got another game against the Canucks in two days and that’s the focus now.”

The Kings’ four-day layoff was history and it was time to put what they gained from their longest break between games in 2013-14 to good use against a Sabres team that has struggled to get anything right during a disastrous opening month-plus of the season.

For Quick, three days of practice plus a day off Monday gave him a chance to get back to basics after the Kings’ 4-3 loss Saturday to the Nashville Predators. He was sharp from the start against the Sabres, who were coming off a 5-4 shootout win Tuesday over the San Jose Sharks.

“Obviously, with the Olympics, you kind of get running around a little bit and you miss some days here and there with practice,” Quick said. “I’ve been able to get to work on the details and things like that. We were able to get a lot of work done and prepare for this game.”

Above all, the Kings improved their special teams, especially their penalty-killing unit. The Kings went into the game having given up at least one power-play goal in six consecutive games, including two in the first period Saturday against the Predators.

Not only did the Kings click twice on the power play against Buffalo, but they also killed off all four Sabres chances with the man-advantage. The Kings’ power-play has been successful six times in 17 chances over the last four games for a sizzling 35.3 percent success rate.

“First time in a while we didn’t give up a power-play goal, so that’s something to build on,” Quick said.

The Kings conclude a stretch in which they played eight of nine games at home when the host Vancouver on Saturday. Then they hit the road for a four-game trip to play the Sabres, New York Islanders, New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers.

Elliott Teaford covers the Anaheim Ducks for the Orange County Register and the Southern California News Group. He covered the Ducks for 12 years, including the Stanley Cup season, for the Los Angeles Times and the Daily Breeze before returning to the beat in 2018 for SCNG. He also covered the Lakers for five seasons, including their back-to-back NBA championships in 2009 and '10. He once made a jump shot over future Utah Jazz center Mark Eaton during a pickup game in 1980 at Cypress College.